Date:21/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/21/stories/2007062153270300.htm

Kerala - Alappuzha

‘Withdraw GO on sand-mining’

Staff Reporter

Order permits mining on Arattupuzha-Thrikkunnapuzha stretch

Order frozen following widespread protests
Committee formed to look into the aspect

ALAPPUZHA: Senior Congress leader and former MP V.M. Sudheeran has once again strongly voiced his dissent against the State Government’s decision to allow mineral sand mining on the Arattupuzha-Thrikkunnapuzha stretch in Alappuzha district.

Stating that a recent Government Order giving permission to the public sector Indian Rare Earths Limited (IRE) for mining mineral sand from the stretch was against the proclaimed policy of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) with respect to mineral sand exploitation, Mr. Sudheeran demanded that Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan interfere in the issue and withdraw the GO. The order has already raised controversy in Alappuzha with even the Communist Party of India (CPI) district committee protesting the move.

“The Government, after the ongoing protest against the project, has frozen the GO and is planning to appoint a committee to study the issue. But several committees have conducted studies on the issue at the same spot. All have been partial in their reports. So, appointing committees is pure eyewash.

The Government should withdraw the order immediately,” the leader said at Valavanadu near here on Wednesday.

Pointing out that the Arattupuzha-Thrikkunnapuzha region was already battered by continuous tidal wave attacks and sea erosion, M. Sudheeran said delay in constructing a permanent sea wall here -- which was announced after the tsunami in December 2004 -- had already raised doubts in the minds of the public that there were intentions to let out the premises for sand mining. The recent GO had only strengthened these doubts.

Alleging that the Industries Department too was trying to initiate mining here as a Government project and then covertly hand it over to private agencies, Mr. Sudheeran said that any sort of mining here would be strongly opposed.

Toddy shops galore

The former MP also launched a campaign against the “indiscriminate permission” given to toddy shops in Valavanadu, where he said the number of shops in one locality was exceeding the permissible number.

In some areas, there were three to four shops when legally there should be only one.